Machine for making steel fasteners.



G. L. GROUSB.

MACHINE FOR MAKING STEEL FASTENERS.

urmomlon FILED JAN. 9, 1900.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A TTOR/VE Y5 PATENTED AUG. 13, 1907.

No. 863,155. PATBNTED AUG.-13, 1907.

' G. L. GROYUSE. MACHINE FOR MAKING STEEL FASTENERS.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 9, 1906.

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WITNESSES: [NVEN-TQR.

B) 1 r o M K A TTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GARRETT L. OROUSE, OF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE OROUSE MFG. COMPANY, OF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR MAKING STEEL FASTENERS.

Application filed anuary 9,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1907. 1906. Serial No. 295,307.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARRETT L. CRoUsn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Williamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Machine for Making Steel Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for the manufacture of steel fasteners or similar small articles of corrugated sheet metal.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a machine of simple and economical construction which will rapidly and effectively corrugate a strip of steel or other metal of any width, and will automatically sever the same into separate plates or fasteners to be used for a variety of purposes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of this type in which the severing mechanism is arranged to act on a continuously moving strip, the severing knives being of such construction as not to interfere with the forward movement of the strip while the knives are in action.

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:Figure l is a perspective view of a fastener making machine constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of a portion of the mechanism showing more particularly the connections between the main and countershafts. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a portion of the same. Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the strip guide.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indi cate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The working parts of the machine are supported on a suitable frame which includes a bed plate 10, and a plurality of standards or brackets forming bearings for the reception of the various operating shafts.

The main shaft 10 carries a belt wheel 11 and a balance wheel 12 and is further provided with a pinion 13 that intermeshes with a gear 14 arranged to rotate freely on a stud 15 that is adjustably mounted on a slotted frame 16 in order to permit changing of gears for the operation of the parts at different speeds.

Airanged parallel with the main shaft is a second shaft 17, carrying a pinion 18 which intermeshes with 1 the gear 14, said pinion being removable in order that others of different diameter may be substituted therefor when it is desired to change the running. speed of the parts. The opposite end of the shaft 17 carries a bevel pinion 19 that intermeshes with a bevel gear 20 on a lower roller die shaft 21. The two shafts 21 and 22 are arranged parallel with each other, the upper shaft being mounted in bearing blocks 23 that are vertically adjustable in the standards 24 and which may be held down in place by screws 25. The screws are held in detachable caps 26, so that when necessary the bearings and shafts may be quickly removed for the purpose of substituting others carrying dies of different character.

The roller dies 27 and 28 are provided with corrugated peripheries, said corrugations being arranged parallel with each other and with the axes of the shafts, or being inclined with respect to each other and the shafts in accordance with the character of the fasteners being made.

Between the upper and lower shafts 21 and 22 is arranged a plate 30 having a guiding flange 31 for engage ment with one edge of the strip to be corrugated. This plate carries an adjustable guide plate 32 which is arranged to engage the opposite edge of the strip to be corrugated, the plate 32 being movable toward and from the flange 31 in accordance with the width of the strip, and being then locked in place by screws 33. On top of the plate 32 is an additional plate or strip 32 which serves to confine the corrugated strip in the guide-way and prevent the same from curving upward around the upper die roller.

The inner or discharge end of the guide plate 30 is supported at the upper end of a standard 35, the base of said standard being slidably mounted on a lug 3G projecting from the bed plate, and the opposite ends of the standard are provided with downwardly projecting ears or lugs 37 that are threaded for the reception of screws 38 which bear against the opposite sides of the lug 36 and afford a means of adjusting the position of the standard with respect to the dies. The standard is provided with a vertically disposed groove in which is arranged a cutting blade 40, said blade being vertically adjustable to compensate for wear and to maintain its cutting edge in the plane of the surface of the guide plate 30. The corrugated strip is forced to travel by the dies over the end of the plate 30 and the cutting blade.

The main shaft 10 is provided with an enlarged collar or flange 41 in the forward face of which is a recess for the reception of a cutting knife 42 that is confined in place by a strap or plate 43 bolted to the front of the flange and so arrenged as to permit adjustment of the knife and to hold said knife in adjusted position. The knife 42 is provided with a cutting edge which co-acts with the edge of the blade 40, and said cutting edge is formed at the juncture of the front and lower walls of the blade, the front wall being arranged at an obtuse angle to the direction of movement of the strip, so that as the knife passes through the strip, the latter can continue its forward movement without actual contact with the front of said knife, thus preventing buckling or deflecting of the strip.

The gearing is so proportioned that the shaft 10 revolves much more rapidly than the die carrying shafts, the proportion being about nine to one in the machine illustrated, and as the speed of travel of the strip is relatively slow, the cutting knife may be forced therethrough and sever the strip into fasteners of uniform size without stopping or in any manner interfering with the movement of the strip.

It is obvious that the dies may be removed for the purpose of employing dies of different character, and that the several gears may, also, be changed for the purpose of altering the speed of movement of the various parts.

I claim:

In a machine of the class described, the combination with the (lie members, of strip guides arranged to receive the strip from the die members, a cutting blade arranged at the discharge end of the guide and over which the strip is fed, a pair of die carrying shafts, a main power shaft, a counter-shaft arranged parallel with the main shaft and having gearing connections with one of the die carrying shafts, gearing connections between the main and counter-shafts, a knife support on the main shaft, and a knife carried by said support and arranged during its rotation to co-act with the cutting blade and sever the strip into lengths.

in testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GARRETT L. CROUSE.

Witnesses:

G. A. RINE, HENRY C. Parsons. 

